Silly Superstitions- Ace
by MythplacedLogic
Summary: Marco, Ace, and Thatch and silly superstitions onboard the Moby Dick! Featuring Ace in denial of his superstitious ways and the bemused and confused Whitebeard pirates. Just where did Ace learn all of this stuff? Lucky spiders, giant rabbit's feet and crazy East Blue superstitions ahead!
1. Up the Water Spout

The sun shone down on the wooden deck signaling a peaceful new day for the Whitebeard pirates.

Marco just wished the scuffle and cursing that he could hear from across the deck could have let him enjoy that peaceful morning for more than 5 minutes.

He just knew he was going to regret asking this. "Oi, Ace? What are you doing over there?"

"Marco!" Ace whirled around clutching something behind his back, his foot planted on Thatch's back. Marco saw Thatch struggle wildly to pick himself up. "I'm not doing anything, why would you think I was doing something!?".

Marco just sighed, "Maybe because Thatch seems to have made himself one with the deck underneath your boot? What did you do, yoi?".

"Maaarcoooo! Make Ace get off me. Get off, get off, get off! Kill it! Get it away from me!". Thatch tried a last ditch roll to the side to get away and grabbed at whatever Ace was hiding behind his back, just as Ace casually elbowed him back down onto the deck.

"Haha, Thatch is just playing around, nothing's going on, haha." Ace started to shuffle backwards and tripped over Thatch's outstretched hand.

"Ah hah, finally!" Thatch sprung up and grabbed at what appeared to be a rolled up newspaper from Ace's last ditch attempt to hold it out of reach. "Time to kill that nasty thing!"

"Noooo! You can't kill it!" Ace dove for Thatch again but missed as Thatch danced out of the way.

It was too early in the morning, Marco should not have to be dealing with his brothers' crazy antics right now. "What is Thatch trying to kill, yoi?"

"A huge damn spider, that's what!" Thatch was peering around holding the rolled newspaper above his head. "I just about had that thing before Ace tackled me."

Seeing that Ace was just about to make another go at at Thatch, Marco picked him up and poked him hard in the stomach. "What is your problem with this Ace yoi?"

To his surprise, he could see a light blush steal across Ace's freckled face. "He just can't kill it, ok?"

Marco stared at his younger brother for a moment before a smile tugged at his lips. "Ace, don't tell me you're superstitious?"

Thatch whirled from his spider-hunting back towards them "What! What does that have to do with me taking a face-plant courtesy of Ace, just from trying to get that crawly menace?"

Marco laughed, "Didn't you know? It's bad luck to kill a spider in the daytime."

"Really?! Wow, our brother is a superstitious one." Thatch grinned at Ace, who just groaned "Shut up!" and pulled his hat down to hide his still red face. "Superstitions or no superstitions, I will be killing that spider, you should have seen how big it was!" Marco watched Thatch give a full body shudder.

Marco looked from his embarrassed brother to the still-determined spider-hunter. "Well, it's not bad luck to kill a spider at night, right Ace?"

Ace perked up from scuffing at the deck with his boot. "That's right!" He quickly looked away, "Not that I'm superstitious or anything.".

Marco laughed," and you're not scared of a little spider hanging around the ship for a few hours, right, Thatch?"

This time Thatch was the one to duck his head, lowering the roll of newspaper "Me? Scared of a spider! Haha, I have no idea why you're talking about...".

Marco punched Ace lightly in the arm, "There, the spider lives another day." Ace turned back towards him with a shy grin on his face. "Now why don't we go get breakfast, right Thatch?".

He lead the way shaking his head, with Ace and Thatch following behind. Ace started up asking him about where they were stopping next for supplies and just as he turned into the kitchen he could hear behind him...

"You just wait spider, I'm coming for you tonight!".


	2. You Your Own Good!

Wherein it is Friday the 13th and the Whitebeard Pirates are very confused.

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The first sign that something odd was happening was the discovery that someone had removed all of the mirrors from the bathrooms. Being pirates, most simply shrugged and put it up to another of Thatch's pranks, and ignored their potentially ridiculous looking bedhead in favor of getting breakfast.

The second sign that something strange was going on was Izou storming onto the deck in a bathrobe, sanz makeup with his hair hidden in a towel.

His brothers all tried to make themselves scarce as Izou made a beeline for Thatch, currently standing at the railing with a wide stare and vigorously shaking his head.

"I didn't do anything this time, it wasn't me, I swear!" Thatch waved his arms, frantically trying to get away while simultaneously protesting his innocence.

"Someone stole my mirror! All of my mirrors!" Izou only then noticed the staring of the rest of the crew on deck and was quick to turn his glare on them. They all ducked their heads and attempted to make themselves appear busy to avoid Izou's wrath. Thatch was dead meat, was the silent consensus.

"Well if it wasn't you, who was it then?" Izou swung back around to Thatch, eyes narrowed. Thatch hunched down, anticipating his brothers wrath.

"I swear it wasn't me, I've been in the kitchen all night working on a new recipe for Pops, I have witnesses!" Thatch turned pleading eyes to the members of the kitchen staff who happened to be on deck. Looking uneasily at each other, reluctant to be dragged into the storm of Izou's ire, they nodded their heads.

"See! I'm sure we'll be able to find your mirrors soon. Really soon! And you look good anyway...". Thatch trailed off, peeking up at Izou to see if he had calmed down.

Eyes still narrowed and breath huffing out, Izou looked back towards the cabin doors. "Fine, but when I catch the one who did this. They. Will. Regret. It!". He turned on his heel and strode imperiously back below-deck.

"Whew, that was close!" Thatch cracked a grin. "I wonder who managed that one, it takes balls to cross Izou like that."

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By the time lunch rolled around, the crew had begun to notice the other strange things going on around the ship.

Marco could only sigh as yet another report reached him of horseshoes randomly nailed above doorways and even to the floors, causing random tripping accidents as each was discovered.

The most recent issue was the carpenters cursing out the kitchen crew, saying that they were the last to use the ladders to decorate for a party the previous week and now no one could find said ladders. The kitchen crew, irate already because of the harrowing morning episode, yelled at them right back that those ladders had been returned days ago, and they could stick them where the sun don't shine.

The final straw for the kitchen crew was the sight of all of the garlic from the ships stores strung up around the crews quarters, dangling from braided rope above the doorways.

Marco shook his head as he ushered his irate brothers back to the kitchen, telling them that he would handle it. He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what was going on.

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Ace wouldn't say he was trying to avoid anyone, but that didn't stop him from quickly looking around the corner and then darting through the dimly lit hallway in the depths of the Moby Dick. It had taken him months to build up enough rabbits feet from all the stops they had made in port and quietly prepare them for use. Thank goodness he had so much experience hunting rabbits from years past.

Silently making his way through the crew quarters, he tucked a rabbits foot under each of his brothers pillows, patting them down and smiling before moving to the next.

He had saved an extra special one from the giant rabbit he had found while hunting on one of the winter islands especially for Pops, too! That was a lucky find, he nodded sagely to himself, and they could use all of that they could get on this accursed day. There was still the small matter of getting it to Pops' chair, but he would find a way!

Grinning to himself and skillfully dodging every crack in the floor, just in case, he made his way back out into the hallway.

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"Aaaaaaghhh! What the hell is this?!"

Whitebeard looked up from his discussion with Marco just as one of his sons ran onto the deck clutching something in his hand.

"Someone left a chopped up animal leg in my bed! Who did it?" He looked around wildly. "Is this a warning, revenge for that time with the fish skeleton? I told you guys that wasn't me!"

"Calm down, my son." Whitebeard raised an eyebrow at Marco. Marco huffed a laugh in return and turned to his hapless brother. Just as he was about to speak, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye.

There was Ace, hiding in the shadow of Pops' chair, brows furrowed in concentration as he fiddled with the ropes lashing the chair to the deck. He was so intent on his task that he failed to notice the eyes of all of his brothers suddenly narrowing in on him.

"Ace!" "Ace?" Ace, what are you doing over there?!" Several of them shouted out at once. Ace froze, shoulders hunched as he slowly turned his head.

"Haha. Hey guys!" He whistled lightly, staring into the air above their heads. "What's everyone so worked up about? Nothing to see here!"

Ace began to shuffle backwards only to bump into something. He slowly turned to look and saw Marco behind him, eyebrow raised.

"Ace, is there something you need to tell us?"

Ace wheeled away from Marco and bumped right into the chair he had been fiddling with. To the shock of his brothers, something large dislodged itself from the back of their Pops' chair. It thumped down and rolled slightly, white fur ruffled by the rough wood

"Is that a leg?!"

"No, it's a foot!"

Various outbursts came from the assembled crew, Thatch and the kitchen staff, and even Izou (somehow now perfectly groomed despite the lack of mirrors) having heard the commotion and come to investigate.

"It's a Lapin foot," Marco sighed, an amused glint in his eyes, "a rabbit's foot, to be exact."

Ace, a hunted look on his face, sprang for the white furry paw laying on the deck, clutching it to himself. "Pops needs it!" He shook his head, eyes bouncing back and forth between his brothers, the giant rabbit foot, and Pops' chair. At the last second, a rumbling laugh could be heard, bursting out as Whitebeard couldn't contain himself any longer.

"My son, I understand. I had forgotten those old East Blue traditions."

Thatch spoke up, "Wait a second, Ace? Don't tell me you were the one responsible for all the crazy things happening today?"

Izo turned a glare on his younger brother as the rest began to yell about the various problems experienced throughout the day.

Marco laid a hand on Ace's shoulder. "Ace, do you want to explain?"

Ace looked furtively around once more, before finally bursting out,"You need them! This day is cursed! Who knows what would have happened if I hadn't made sure you couldn't break your mirrors. That's seven years bad luck right there!" He began to babble. "And the ladders, I couldn't leave those lying around, anyone might have walked under them! The horseshoes were a little overkill, maybe, but the rabbits feet were the only way to guarantee things on a Friday the 13th!"

Mystified, the crew looked between themselves and finally up at Whitebeard.

"Calm down Ace, we understand."

Ace hugged the large rabbits foot to himself. "It took me ages to find one big enough for Pops. He needs it!"

Thatch had stood in silence through that meandering explanation and then finally began to grin. "Saving spiders and rabbit's feet for good luck, huh? Are these more East Blue superstitions of yours, Ace?"

Whitebeard reached down from his vantage point and gently tugged the Lapin foot out of Ace's hands./p

"Thank you, my son. It has been many long years since I have sailed the blues, and I had quite forgotten what day it was." He tucked the talisman of good luck away and turned towards the rest of his family. Ace turned hopeful eyes upwards, only to blush and turn quickly away again.

The rest of the crew, still bug eyed and confused by this turn of events, clamored for an explanation. As Whitebeard explained to them the story of Friday the 13th, a day believed to be defined by ill fortune for all who grew up in the East Blue, more grins began to break out and chuckling could be heard.

Thatch was the first to leap forwards. "Still so very superstitious, little brother! I had no idea we would go from those crawly menaces to garlic and giant rabbit's feet in so short a time!"

"I'm not superstitious!" Ace swore, face steaming red. The entire crew turned skeptical faces towards him this time. "I'm not! I'm just prudently aware of outside circumstances that may or may not effect the outcome of actions on any given day!"

"Riiiiiiiiiight. And I'm a Marine Admiral." Thatch slapped Ace on the back and turned to Marco. "Did you know about this?"

Marco merely smiled. "I may have had some idea, yoi." He turned to Ace. "It might be a good idea to warn people next time Ace." He could see Ace pouting and he laughed. "Just for today, we'll try to avoid as much bad luck as possible ok?"

Ace gave a hesitant smile. "Really? You'll carry your rabbit's feet?"

Thatch and Marco looked at each other as their brothers shook their heads in good natured exasperation. "We'll carry the rabbit's feet alright..."

Ace pumped a fist in the air only to hear Marco finish, "But you'll be the one cleaning all this up tomorrow, yoi."

Ace began to pout again as Thatch grabbed his shoulders and ruffled his hair.

"Thatch!" Ace squawked, trying to finger-comb his hair down as Thatch walked away, shouting back, "at least until next Friday the 13th, little brother!"

As the rest of the crew shook their heads and began to head back inside, Izou came up beside Ace. "And don't forget my mirrors. You can bet I won't." Izou smirked and walked away as Ace quickly turned and yelled after him. "What do you mean by that? Izou? Izou!"

Whitebeard looked on as his sons returned to their normal activities. No one saw him pat the rabbit's foot he had tucked away in his pocket, even as he smiled. He had always thought himself the luckiest of pirates, to have found such a family. But a little extra luck never hurt.


	3. Reminiscing

An interlude with Ace and Thatch. Thatch has some questions, Ace has some answers.

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The screech of the gulls and the smell of saltwater filled his senses as he lay basking in the sun. The planking creaked gently under him and he was totally at peace in his little corner of the deck.

"Aaaaaaaaaacccccce!" He heard a cry in the distance, "where are you Ace?"

He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that being quiet and not looking might save him from the inevitable.

No such luck...

"There you are, Ace!" Thatch's voice sounded right in his ear as a shadow fell over him, making him jump up.

"Thatch, I was enjoying the sun until your big shadow blocked it all out!" Ace shoved at him, trying to move him out of the way so he could continue his lovely doze.

Thatch gave an offended squawk "Hey, are you calling me fat?!".

"You said it, not me." Ace gave a cheeky grin as he dropped back down on the deck. Rather than continue the argument, Thatch reached out and nudged him over to make room enough to sit next to him. For a moment they sat in companionable silence and listened to the slap of waves against the hull and the sounds of their brothers going about their duties.

Ace couldn't help the smile that grew on his face as he enjoyed this small moment in the life he had chosen for himself.

"Hey, Ace?" Thatch seemed to have calmed down and was leaning back with both arms behind him to prop himself up. "I've been meaning to ask you something."

Ace turned his face towards him with a raised eyebrow. "What's up Thatch?"

"Weeeeeeellll, you know that cursed day we do not speak of that occurred last month?" Thatch very pointedly didn't look towards him as he spoke.

"What the heck, I thought I told you guys not to mention that!" Ace quickly turned his face away as his cheeks burned in remembered embarrassment even as a burst of satisfaction and pride welled up in remembrance of his excellent skills. He was certain that his dedicated efforts had guaranteed that the whole crew had avoided the undoubtedly horrible unlucky consequences of their potential actions on the cursed day they did not speak of.

Thatch just grinned as he saw the blush out of the corner of his eye. "I'm just curious! Pops told us that that sort of thing was normal back in East Blue, but he didn't say much more than that."

Ace sighed, knowing he likely wouldn't be able to avoid the embarrassment this topic would bring. He grudgingly asked, "What more do you want to know?".

Thatch immediately latched on to the small opening in Ace's usual defensiveness on the subject. "Where did you learn all of these things!? What's supposed to be lucky or unlucky? Seriously, I can't keep it straight!". His body was fully turned toward Ace now, his attention entirely on getting the answers to his questions.

Rather than erupt in stuttering denials as he expected, Ace instead grew silent, seeming to stare off into the distance. Thatch rarely saw him so intent, outside of food or battle.

A long moment passed and Thatch began to grow nervous, hoping he hadn't truly offended his little brother with his choice of topic.

He breathed a sigh of relief when Ace suddenly twitched and turned his head around to Thatch with a rueful smile on his face. "Is that all?" He asked.

Thatch gaped at him, "'Is that all?'" Thatch pointed his finger at Ace as he yelled, "You're the one who's always denying everything and trying to sneak off when it comes up!". Thatch poked Ace in the forehead, "Crazy little brother, you made it seem like a huge ordeal to even mention it!" He huffed and shook his head.

Ace just laughed at the rant about his previous antics. Finally he caught his breath as Thatch wound down. Thatch couldn't really put his finger on what the look was on Ace's face as they sat for a moment enjoying each other's company.

'So you want to know where I learned about luck, huh?' Ace thought to himself with a familiar bittersweet mix of fierce pride, innocent happiness, and remembered grief, still painful after all these years, thoughts of his home island in East Blue.

He finally spoke, "Hey, Thatch, did I ever tell you I was raised by mountain bandits?".

He huffed a soft laugh at Thatch's dumbstruck face even as his thoughts drifted, back to a time before Pops, Marco and Thatch, all of his pirate brothers aboard the Moby Dick. A time where a different set of beloved brothers had run at his side through a forest filled with giant beasts and a treehouse filled with treasure.

"The bandit's leader was a woman named Dadan, not that you could tell she was a woman from looking at her...". Ace began to speak and Thatch leaned forward once more to hear just where his brother had learned those ridiculous superstitions from, and maybe, a few more details about the life of his pirate brother before he became 'Firefist'.

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Author's Note:

Next up will be story time and memories explaining the origin of some of Ace's superstitions and the crazy antics they resulted in. Gotta love those ASL brothers! And seriously Garp, mountain bandits?


	4. Ace and The Long Road to Enlightenment

First Flashback- Ace begins his journey of discovery and Sabo is amused. Bonus Luffy omake at the end!

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Ace growled as he stomped through the dirt towards the forest and away from the bandit's hide-out.

"Stupid bandits!", he angrily kicked a rock out of the way, not noticing as it pinged off the forehead of a huge tiger about to get the jump on him. He tripped immediately afterward and quickly sprang up and spun around to make sure no one had seen him fall, as he rubbed the dirt from his face.

"Stupid Dadan!", he huffed as he pulled himself over an enormous tree root. His boot scuffed as he pushed up and he just barely dodged a huge wad of dead leaves and moss that his vigorous climb had dislodged, which silently fell down right on top of the snake that was slithering up after him. He did not manage to dodge the second heap of clinging rotten moss that tumbled down right after, catching him square in the face.

"Stupid spiders!" He yelled and squirmed as he shook out the bugs that had crawled into his shirt from the stinking pile that had fallen on him.

Exhausted from an unusually annoying trek through the forest, he stopped and flopped onto his back when he reached the ground again. Looking up at the sky through the leaves, he was too frustrated to notice the storm clouds gathering just on the edge of his vision.

"What do spiders have to do with luck?" He grumbled to himself as he remembered the earlier morning and the annoyance that any interaction with the bandits always brought along with it.

Just as he had begun to calm down, the sky seemed to break open and a massive sheet of freezing rain slammed into him.

"Aaaaghh!" He scrambled up under the force of the falling water and ran towards a crack in the trunk of a nearby tree. Huddling into the tiny overhang, he shivered as the rain came pouring down and a bolt of lightning crackled through the darkening sky.

"This is the worst day ever!" Curling up to wait for the rain to pass, he hoped Sabo had managed to find shelter before the unexpected storm came.

'I'll go find him tomorrow' he thought as he drifted fitfully off to sleep.

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"Saaaaaaboooo!" The shout echoed off into the distance of the ravine as a blond haired boy looked up from pushing the shirt in his hands under the water of the river.

"Ace, is that you!?" He shouted back towards the small figure he could see making its way towards him down the side of the ravine on a vine.

"Sabo!" The dark haired boy turned his face towards him, " There you are, I've been looking for you for -" *crack* The branch the vine was attached to snapped and Sabo could see Ace tumble the last part of the way down, bouncing off a rock on the way down. "Oof". Ace rolled over onto his back with a wince.

Sabo rushed over to check on him and stared for a moment while his friend groaned up at him.

"Wow, Ace, that was some bad luck right there." Sabo could only gape as he took in the wet clothes, dirt encrusted hair and the various scrapes on Ace's face, only some of which could be explained by his recent fall.

"What the heck are you talking about, luck?" Ace finally pushed himself up to sit and glare at the sun glinting into his face from his friend's goggles. "There's no such thing as bad luck, just stupid things that happen and people who think they had something to do with it!"

Sabo pulled a face at that and threw himself down to lounge beside his pouting partner in crime,

He sighed and started again, "Ace, I don't know what you've heard, but there is definitely such a thing as bad luck and you look like you got a face full of it." He smirked at Ace's dirty hair and reach up to pull a tiny beetle off of his friend's damp bangs. "Literally, in your case."

Sabo glimpsed Ace's fierce pout growing into a full-on freak-out and quickly stifled his smirk.

"You sound just like those stupid bandits and that old hag, Sabo. There's no such things as luck, bad luck, or stupid lucky spiders!" Ace shouted and leapt up, limping just a little as he stomped around.

Sabo could feel his face pulling into a grin again. "No such thing as luck huh?" He propped his chin on his hands and just raised his eyebrow. "What exactly were you doing yesterday and why are you ranting about the bandits and spiders then, huh Ace?"

A blush began to creep over Ace's face as he quickly spun around so his back faced Sabo and crossed his arms.

"I didn't do anything!"

Sabo just continued to look at Ace's back. "Really, nothing at all?"

Finally Ace couldn't hold it in anymore and jerked back around to yell, "It was just a stupid spider! Those stupid bandits freaked out for no reason!" He didn't notice the shirt Sabo had dropped to the ground earlier when he had rushed over to Ace and his foot caught on the collar. His subsequent face-plant had Sabo clutching his belly, cackling with laughter as Ace struggled to pull his leg free from the wet shirt.

Finally, with Ace free of the malicious shirt fabric and Sabo having caught his breath again, he grinned at his unlucky friend.

"Look Ace, I don't know what you're thinking is going on, but I bet I can guess what happened yesterday."

"Oh yeah?" Ace glared at Sabo, too exhausted to jump on him and punch his grinning face. He knew Sabo was still laughing at him in his head.

"Yeah, I'll bet you two shifts of laundry duty that I can tell you exactly what happened yesterday."

Ace ignored his instincts screaming at him when faced with Sabo's smug grin. "Fine, two days of laundry duty, you have no idea what I've been through!"

Sabo put up his hand with fingers spread. "First off, I'll guess that you found a spider yesterday, sometime during the daytime at the bandit's place." He ticked one finger on his hand. "Sound about right so far?"

"So, I already told you about the stupid spider, just now, so that doesn't count!" Ace cried as Sabo ticked his second finger.

"Now, now, I'm just getting started! Secondly, I bet you tried to kill that spider you found, and one of the bandits freaked out and stopped you." Sabo quirked his eyebrow at Ace as he began to settle into another glare.

"So what if I did?"

Sabo ticked a third finger,"Thirdly, I'll bet the bandits then told you that you can't kill it, and told you that it's bad luck, right?"

Ace turned an odd face at his friend, squinting at him. "How could you possibly know that?"

Sabo simply ticked another finger as his grin took over his face, "Next, I'm gonna say that you ignored them and killed the spider anyway. Am I right so far?"

Ace just glared in silence as Sabo ticked his thumb and continued, "Lastly, I'll bet that those bandits shoved you right out the door. And as a bonus, considering the way you look right now, you must have had quite the eventful trip back. Scrapes, dirt, bugs, and I'm gonna say you even got caught in that freak storm last night, didn't you Ace?" Sabo had started to laugh again as Ace jumped him, and they began to tussle as Ace cursed at him.

After a few moments, Ace's night in the cold caught up with him and he fell back to the ground, caught in Sabo's headlock.

Letting him go, Sabo rolled over to look at him."Look Ace, that's some serious bad luck, you're gonna have to do something about it before something worse happens."

"I don't know what you're talking about Sabo, there's no such thing as bad luck!"

Knowing his friend wouldn't be convinced at this point he continued

"You'll see Ace, it'll only get worse from here. And don't forget," Sabo jumped up and sauntered past Ace towards the river,"it's your turn to do laundry now."

Sabo laughed at Ace's frustrated cry and the sound of Ace tripping again, right into the river this time.

He needed to rinse off anyway, right?

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Omake- Luffy, Ace, and Learning About Luck.

"Hey Ace, come look at this!" Luffy cried behind Ace as they continued their trip into Grey Terminal to do some 'shopping'.

Ace peered around back towards his smallest brother, squinting in the harsh light of the midday sun. He jumped towards Luffy with a cry as soon as he got a look at what was in his brother's hand. "Luffy, no! You can't kill it!"

Luffy turned a confused look at Ace as he pulled his hand back from his brother, spider held more gently than you would expect of the hyperactive boy, in his hand.

"Why would I kill it? It's a mysterious bug with 8 legs! So cool...". He returned to staring with huge eyes at the spider crawling over his fingers as his brother leaned over with his hands on his knees, huffing from his sprint to stop Luffy from doing something he'd regret forever.

"Just trust me Luffy, be sure you don't hurt that spider. I'll get Sabo to explain later, ok?" He ruffled Luffy's hair as Luffy leaned over to let his mystery bug back onto the ground.

"Whatever you say Ace!" Luffy grinned and bounced on down the path.

Ace shook his head as a shiver ran down his spine at the memory of his own fateful encounter.

"It was lucky that nothing happened this time!"

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Author's Note-

Hope you enjoyed that side story with Luffy! Don't worry Ace, Luffy loves bugs. Especially mystery bugs!

Thank you to my guest reviewer last chapter for inspiration for this flashback! Please review and let me know some luck traditions where you're from, good or bad. They may just appear sometime in the story if you do.

Ace strikes me as the type who would need something knocked into his head to believe it, especially something as ephemeral as 'luck'. Don't worry, we'll see more of Ace's journey towards enlightenment as the story goes.


	5. I Told You So

**Chapter 5: I Told You So**  
Summary:In which there is some plot, and Ace gets what he wishes for, for the most part.

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Birds chirped as a fast moving squirrel jumped along lush pine branches. The rustling of its movement caught Ace's attention as he strolled through the woods.

He had been needing this break, he knew it had been too long. When the Moby had dropped anchor in a cove here for supplies he had taken the chance to stretch his legs on land. As much as he loved the freedom that sailing the Blues gave him, he had grown up in a forest like this and there were times when it called to him still.

He heard a grumbling and he gave a rueful grin at the sign that he needed to get a move on if he wanted to quiet his stomach anytime soon. Bounding off into the undergrowth, he began his hunt.

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"Captain Shirahama, please wait!"

The broad shouldered man didn't pause for a moment as he hacked at the tangled growth in front of him.

A group of panting marines stumbled to a stop as their captain finally turned to sneer at them.

"We've got information that some crew of pirate scum are in the port, and I won't have it!"

His second in command swallowed hard as the rest looked on nervously, "But Captain, HQ said to avoid engaging with pirate groups for now, we have no backup!"

"Ha! I don't need backup for some jumped up dogs that think they can get the best of the Marines!" The Captain took a breath to continue his tirade when he tensed and turned towards the trail he had been blazing through the undergrowth.

"I knew it, I could sense one of those scum in this direction, probably too afraid to brave the town and face me. I'll bleed him a little and the coward will tell us where their ship is anchored. I will be the one to burn it to ashes!"

With that, the Captain continued to hack furiously at the branches in his way, his subordinates following reluctantly behind as the sun beat down on them.

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A stag bent its head to lap at the clear water of the stream, oblivious to the watcher waiting in the trees.

Ace made quick work of the stag and bent to throw it over his shoulder. He had seen a small clearing in the woods from his vantage point, down the hill from where he had tracked the deer. It would make an excellent flat spot for his cooking fire, he mused to himself.

Ace shook his head ruefully as he climbed down into the little valley, his stomach was protesting the wait and he quickly built a large wood pile. Grinning, he wiggled his fingers as flames sprang up around each one, sparking the wood into a roaring blaze.

"Haha, that never gets old!" After staking out his meal over the fire, he turned to inspect the clearing, hands in his pockets and shoulders relaxed. An open meadow surrounded by trees met his eyes as he explored.

"Look at all this clover, what a lucky find!" A breeze wafted through, ruffling his hair and the lush clover that covered the ground like an emerald blanket. Ace gently folded himself down into the nearest patch, laying his head back to bask in the sun, still smiling.

'Plenty of time for a quick nap before lunch, and maybe I can find a special clover for Thatch, that guy just can't catch a break! Then maybe we'll get some action around here, it's been a little boring lately.' Ace thought to himself as he nodded off in the field of gently swaying clover, his hat resting beside him and the delicious smell of roasting meat in the air.

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Branches crackled as the forest spat an exhausted group of sweaty, dirt covered marines out onto a hillside. Even their leader looked worse for wear as he rested his sword against his leg, breathing heavily.

"Captain, please sir, we need to take a break, the men are dehydrated. They're in no shape to fight like this!" The Lieutenant huffed as he made his entreaty. He glanced nervously at the sky, where the haze of heat met a slowly darkening sky.

Shirahama ignored him as his nostrils flared, a slight breeze bringing with it the scent of smoke and cooking meat.

"The pirate is close, I can smell it!" Whirling around, he began to stomp down the hill, following the scent as his men scrambled to catch up. At the bottom of the hill the trees thinned to nothing as a clearing revealed a green meadow. Shirahama trampled through the plants in his way as he caught sight of a shirtless figure laid out on the ground, motionless. Stupid pirate must have been unprepared for hiking through the wilderness and collapsed.

"Stand and face me, you cowardly pirate scum!" Shirahama roared at the seemingly defenseless man. "Tell me where your ship is, and I'll make this quick!". His sneer grew smug as the figure began to sit up, and the warm breeze picked up.

#############

Ace was having a wonderful dream, the endless buffet of meat parading before him as he partied with his brothers, when he heard a gnat buzzing in his ears. He swatted at it with the hand not holding a turkey leg but it wouldn't stop buzzing. One of his brothers offered to help him and smacked his head and with a start, he woke to shadow standing over him.

"Thatch, is that you again? I thought you were getting food for the party?" Ace started to sit up, rubbing at his eyes. "I've gotta finish lunch and then I'll come help carry the bags, I promise."

He squinted up, and his eyes widened at the sight of a bunch of men covered in dirt staring at him. The big one seemed like he was having a heart attack.

He rose up, scratching his stomach and yawning, "Geez, what happened to you guys?"

########

The shock wore off and the marines snapped to attention as they took in the scene.

Shirahama had gone puce in his rage, steam coming out his ears as he stomped his feet, grinding down the plants in his fury.

"You dirty pirate, don't you know who I am?! I'm Captain Shirahama and this is my island!"

The apparent pirate raised an eyebrow, "Marines huh? Well I've never heard of you, Shamahima was it? So sorry." His mischievous face turned away as he looked towards the ground.

The Captain took that moment to swing his sword at the man, too angry to continue the failed interrogation.

The man bent down and the sword just barely missed, whistling over his head as he picked up something from the ground.

The lieutenant glanced uneasily at the scene, saw the object in the pirate's hand, and then gaped in horror as the pirate perched an infamous orange hat on his head.

He scrambled back, forcing the rest of the marines to follow or fall to the ground.

"F-F-Fire Fist!" The air felt dry as dust as the darkening sky rumbled ominously overhead.

##########

'Well I asked for action, but did it have to be such small fry?' Ace grinned maliciously as he raised his head.

"Did you really think it would be that easy? The Whitebeards don't back down." In that moment, as he turned to check on his roasting meal, his eyes caught on the ground beneath their feet. His own feet stood lightly on the bed of clover he had napped on, but the marines!

Ace's eyes mirrored the unholy fire that sprang into his hands as he saw the destroyed path of shredded clover they had made as they crossed the clearing.

"How dare you! Look at what you've done!" He trembled in rage before he took a deep breath. Snuffing the flames, he gave his own sneer towards the other, "There'll be consequences for that."

The marine Captain swung at him again, yelling about pirates. Ace leapt backwards, leading the unhinged man and his little pack of idiots out of the clover field and onto the packed dirt by his cooking fire.

"Like I told you, you're doomed already. Filthy marines, can't you see that clover you just killed." Ace shook his head, shuddering at all the horrible luck that would surely follow and thankful that it wasn't him. "It couldn't happen to better people, enjoy your world of hurt from that mess of bad luck."

Ace looked on, unimpressed as the larger man laughed at him,

Shirahama continued to laugh in derision. "So you're Fire Fist Ace? How disappointing. You're just a weakling with good press. Only a simpleton believes in something like bad luck. I'll show you." He looked down and deliberately brought his heel down onto the biggest of the clover plants he could see before him, one with 4 huge leaves growing from the base. He kicked at the plant one more time and looked back at the pirate.

"See, just as I said, nothing hap-"

The assembled marines reared back as the sky, which had been growing steadily more hazy, abruptly opened up and a bolt of lightning struck down right onto the head of their captain.

The light flared and then left as quickly as it came, leaving behind a twitching body sprawled on the ground and a smug looking pirate.

"I told you so."

#############

"No way!" Thatch cried as Ace recounted his adventure with the island's marines.

"No joke, the guy was really asking for it. The rest of them grabbed him and ran before I could even get going. Shame, I was really hoping for a good fight but that bunch was totally weak." Ace shrugged and reached into his pocket. He held out something green towards Thatch.

"Got you a present though, 4-leaf clover. It's the one the Shimahama idiot stomped on. When I checked, it was still in perfect condition, so lucky right?" He blushed a bit and motioned towards Thatch with his hand. "It's for you!"

Thatch gave an uneasy look at the plant in his brother's hand. "This thing won't get me struck by lightning right?" He tentatively took the clover and tucked it safely into a pocket.

Ace just smiled at him.

"Only if you're causing yourself bad luck!"

Author's Note:

So a little of the world outside the Moby, luck is real just like Ace said. Not his fault if people didn't believe him. If you've read my story with Dragon and the Revolutionaries, you may wonder how any of them are still alive. The answer to that is all about good intentions, and also maybe a little that Dragon can control the weather!

Side note: I'm sorry this one took so long, the app I write in decided to delete 80% of the chapter I had written and it was hard to get back my inspiration.

I hope this makes up for the wait! As always, please leave me a comment on your interesting superstitions or on Ace's, I would love to hear from you guys!


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